Howard Hughes and UFOs
While recently digging through a file of formerly classified FBI reports on UFOs, I came across an intriguing document titled Flying Discs that was dated July 31, 1950. Brought to the attention of J. Edgar Hoover, it dealt with the following letter, which had been forwarded to the FBI by the editor of a Chicago-based newspaper. The subject matter? Claims that none other than eccentric millionaire and aviation genius Howard Hughes was linked with the truth behind the UFO puzzle. It reads:
Since we are on the brink of a third world conflict, the world is more air conscious than ever. Aviation in some phases is yet in its pioneering days. Much talk goes on about the flying saucers or discs. The saucer we speak about is not a military secret, and is not yet owned by any government.
The flying saucer which was seen over south Chicago last April is a large fuel tank with crystal glass wings. It has two large jet engines on both sides. It is radio controlled. It resembles a saucer very much when in flight. The wings cannot be seen on a clear day. This is so it is a most difficult target for anti aircraft gunners. The reason for the large flat gas or fuel tank is to give the ship a long range for atomic bombing.
The ship was financed by Howard Hughes, millionaire aviation enthusiast. It is now being tested by the Glen F. Martin Aircraft, Co., makers of the Martin Marauder. The craft is only made for one way trips. It has a range of 4,000 miles, ceiling of 25,000 feet, and a speed of 750 miles per hour.
So far only a few of these craft have been made, and they usually are pitched in the lake or ocean as they cannot be landed. They are merely to carry a bomb of high destruction to enemy country. They have no wheels, but small steel rails on the bottom from which they take off.
All other mechanism can be explained in detail. The man who welded the ship says it is by far the best long range bombing instrument he has ever seen. The name of the ship is the “Danse Macabre.”
This is a strange story, to say the least. Was Hughes really implicated in the UFO mystery, as the letter-writer suggests? FBI files reveal that the newspaper in question did not wish to publish the letter, since it was felt that “the Army desired that the matter be kept confidential.” Why, one may ask?
The Bureau took little action beyond filing the letter; but the reference to Hughes is certainly intriguing - FBI records show that none other than contactee George Van Tassel had once worked for Hughes Aircraft, and the 1976 book The Hughes Papers, written by Elaine Davenport, Paul Eddy and Mark Hurwitz reveals a wealth of data relating to Hughes’ connections to the CIA.
Was the account related to the FBI genuine? A hoax, maybe? Or the product of a deluded soul? Maybe it’s time sometime dug a little deeper into this weird tale…
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Feb 26 2007 
February 26th, 2007 at 9:56 am
It dosn’t suprise me if he was.
February 26th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
There seems to be four distinct aspects to this story:
The first, that at least one “Chicago based newspaper” editor, in the ’50s, took X-files type material seriously enough to pass it on to J. Edgar Hoover/the FBI: i.e., took it seriously in a way that most modern newspaper editors APPEAR not to, (though maybe at the time this editor affected a different PUBLIC stance, making one wonder about the PUBLIC stance of contemporary editors).
The second, there was a mysterious individual (presumably “The man who welded the ship [who said it was] by far the best long range bombing instrument he has ever seen”), who related the story to the editor, (or his source), who was taken seriously enough for the account to be passed on to Hoover.
The third, the Army had direct access to this newspaper editor’s material in a way that even Hoover didn’t.
The forth, that Howard Hughes was universally viewed as such a force unto himself that no one - including the Army and the FBI - was ever really sure just what exactly he was getting upto, and as a result he was viewed as being capable of being involved in virtually anything.
Personally, the chief ‘bum note’ - of the account of the ‘offending’ flying saucer-like crystal glass winged aircraft - for me was details such as it supposedly needing to pitch in lakes or the sea, which smacked a little bit too much of Hughes’ controversial ‘failure’ the Spruce Goose.
Add to that the notion it supposedly had crystal glass wings - by way of explaining why it appeared to be a flying saucer - and I find myself wondering if this wasn’t so much a hoax as a ‘record’ of one of Hughes’ notoriously “preposterous” brainstorming sessions.
Keep up the good work, Nick, and in the meantime maybe somebody’ll help you unearth something on the surely corroboratable ‘testing’ connection to Glen F. Martin Aircraft*, Co..
*[Is that maybe Glen L. Martin?]